Nails, screws and fasteners in Project Zomboid

Nails are the fastener behind almost every plank build. A single nail weighs 0.05 (one source). They come loose, in a Box of Nails that holds 100, and in a rarer warehouse Carton that holds several boxes (one source). Open a box only when you need the nails, because loose nails fill your inventory list.

The big Build 42 change is that nails are no longer only a scavenged resource. With blacksmithing you can forge them from scrap iron, so a long game no longer runs out of nails when the hardware stores are empty.

• Hardware and tool stores. Carpentry shelves, tool counters and back-room crates. Nail boxes are among the most common rolls on carpentry shelves (one source). Riverside and Muldraugh both have hardware stores.
• Garages, sheds and unfinished houses. Toolboxes, workbenches and floor piles give lower but steady odds.
• Warehouses and factories. Crate rows and metal shelves, where the bulk cartons turn up.
• Work vehicles. Construction and contractor trunks and truck beds.

Skip bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms. More on store types is on loot locations.

Dismantling furniture. Scrapping wooden beds, wardrobes, tables and similar items with a hammer, and often a saw, gives planks and can return nails. The return is random, and higher Carpentry improves it. See dismantling for tools and yields.

Build 42 build costs, from the recipe files in the PZFans database (42.19 to 42.20). Each also needs a hammer. These are game-file figures from one database, so confirm them in the build menu.

A full window barricade of four planks takes 4 nails; see barricades. Older Build 41 guides list higher stair costs, so use the in-game numbers. Most other carpentry builds, including fences, shelves, tables, chicken hutches, troughs and composters, also take nails.

Build 42 has three nail recipes, all in the Tools group of the forge recipes. Each needs charcoal as fuel and three kept tools: a smithing hammer, metalworking pliers or tongs, and a heading tool. You must learn them first; the 10-nail recipe is taught by the magazine Everyday Smithing, June 1993 (one source).

The recipe database lists Blacksmithing level 1 for all three. One guide gives level 1 in its unlock table and level 3 in its starting list, so the level is not settled; check the recipe tooltip.

Opinion: Forge 10 Nails is the only efficient one. Turn scrap into chunks and use that recipe. Wire gives one nail per wire and is worth it only when you have nothing else.

Screws are a separate item, also 0.05 each (one source). Carpentry builds do not use them. They go into improvised flashlights and lanterns (electrical), can and sheet metal weapon reinforcements, and sawblade planks (weapons). Old steel items can be smelted at the forge. Our sources list no recipe that makes screws.

Door hinges and doorknobs are the other hardware carpentry asks for, on doors and some gates. Blacksmithing can make hinges. Metal walls and frames use welding, not nails or screws; see welding. Rope and rags take the place of nails in rustic log builds.

• Opinion: Barricade only the ground-floor windows you cannot avoid. Furniture or a sheet rope covers the rest.
• Opinion: Use log walls bound with rope or rags for outer defenses, and save nails for doors, floors and crates.
• Dismantle wooden furniture in houses you have already looted. Nails and planks come back together, and you may earn some Carpentry XP.
• Loot nail boxes at the first hardware store you clear. A box takes one inventory slot, so it is easy to carry a few.
• Nail-spiked weapons and spiked armor also eat nails. Decide early whether your supply can spare them.
• Plan a forge with a steady charcoal supply if you expect to build for months. See base building for layout.